Royal Ambassador

It’s the über elite program for Intercontinental branded hotels and resorts. Access By invitation only – although the invitation rules are fairly well known and listed below. You can look forward to a life decent upgrades and an all you can drink complimentary mini-bar!

How do I get it?

Technically it’s invite only – but you can either earn it or blag it!

Earn it:

(Note the published requirement is to be in the top 1% of customers and be an Ambassad0r. What follows are the unwritten rules)

A question: I am a newly minted RA member. Should I book the lowest possible room at the lowest possible rate in order to take greatest advantage of the program? So even if I book a room with a twin bed, will I end up with a room with a king bed, for example?

@Shawn
As an RA, you book the least expensive room. Your upgrade does not depend on the room you book but on your negotiation skills. At a hotel with a club, you will get a minimum of club room with club access. No club? Minimum of a suite. Getting a free breakfast on top of the suite is sometimes easy (far east) sometimes hard (Willard, IC Chicago), but is always possible. I have been more
than 100 nights as an RA in more than 20 different IC, and was never denied an access to club; only once, in the absence of a club, denied free bfast (Tampa, but they gave me the presidential), and only once got club, but no suite (Grand Stanford, in one of my 5 stays there).

I asked many IC employees what the rules are for getting an RA. I got it in 2009 instantly after registering for the ambassador. In the 6 months prior to that, I had spent about 90 nights at
IHG hotels, including about 20 at IC. I was told that nights alone do not make it: an RA must
stay at 3 different continents. I cannot contradict this claim, since my stays above were in America, Europe and Australia. To stress: IHG hotels in 3 continents, not IC hotels in 3 continents!

@admin
Add-on: the “3 different IC” that is being mentioned above cannot be correct. I got it with
2 different IC, and one of them was free (some promotion) and was months before I registered to the ambassador.

I have just received my RA “SHARE” referral certificate that now states that associate receives all the privileges of RA “All for an initial fee of $200.” and “not for barter or resale” … so they have finally stopped the trade in these or at least dropped the value of this. Very disappointing.